Founding Beastie Boys member John Berry dies at 52 after dementia struggle

John Berry, a founding member of the Beastie Boys, died Thursday at 7:30 a.m. at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, Rolling Stone reported. Berry was 52.

Berry's father, John Berry III, told Rolling Stone that his son suffered from frontal lobe dementia which had been getting worse. The condition causes deterioration in the brain which can lead to changes in behavior and personality, language disturbances and alterations in muscle or motor functions, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Berry came up with the Beastie Boys name when he and original members Mike Diamond, Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach were teenagers. The hip hop group formed in 1981, and the first Beastie Boys shows took place in Berry's loft on Manhattan's Upper West Side, according to Rolling Stone.

Berry played guitar on the group's first seven-inch EP "Polly Wog Stew" in 1982. He left the group shortly after recording the album, and would go on to be a member of other bands, including Even Worse, Big Fat Love, Highway Stars and Bourbon Deluxe.

When the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Adam Keefe Horovitz, who replaced Berry when he left, read a speech by Yauch, who died later that year from cancer. Yauch's speech mentioned Berry as a formative member.

See the speech in the video below (Warning: Some explicit language), and photos of Berry beneath.